Beginning on Thursday, January 30th, at 5:00 pm, high school teams will meet at the Westmoreland County Courthouse to begin the 2014 Mock Trial Competition. This event is free and open to the public. Entrance to the competition is at the Main Street entrance to the courthouse. Contact the Westmoreland Bar Association at 724-834-6730 for additional information.
Students will try a “pretend” civil case, with a pretend defendant, pretend witnesses, and pretend attorneys, but in real courtrooms. All teams will rotate between the defense and the prosecution and the winning team will move on to regionals and, if successful, state and national competition. High school participants are required to put in countless hours learning about courtroom procedures and rules of the competition under the guidance of a volunteer attorney coach and teacher coach.
Other dates for the competition are 5:00 pm on February 4th, 12th, 18th and 20th.